The New Patronage: Funding Modernist Music in France, 1918-1939

FAIN: FT-265139-19

Louis Kaiser Epstein
St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN 55057-1574)

A book-length study of patronage and modernist music in France, from 1918 to 1939.

In my book, I trace the substantial shifts in patronage that transformed the sounds and meanings of French modernist music between the world wars. These shifts motivate my redefinition of patronage: far from the court- and church-centered employment that produced most art music before 1800, I explore the “new patronage” of the twentieth century, exemplified by disparate funding practices stretching from the philanthropic to the entrepreneurial. I show how shifts in patronage affected not only music but the composers, critics, theater owners, audiences, and institutions that shaped how it was made and understood, leaving behind legacies that continue to shape international art music composition and music philanthropy through the present day.

Associated Products

The Creative Labor of Music Patronage in Interwar France (Book)
Title: The Creative Labor of Music Patronage in Interwar France
Author: Louis K. Epstein
Abstract: Patrons have long appeared as colorful, exceptional figures in music history, but this book recasts patrons and patronage as creative forces that shaped the sounds and meanings of new French music between the world wars. Far from mere sources of funding, early twentieth-century patrons collaborated closely with composers, treating commissions for new music as opportunities to express their own artistry. Patrons developed new pathways to participate in music-making, going beyond commissions to establish ballet companies, manage performance venues, and establish state programs. The impressive variety of patronage activities led to an explosion of new music as well as new styles and -isms, indelibly marking the repertoire that this book examines, including a number of pieces frequently heard in concert halls today. In addition to offering new perspectives on well-known French repertoire, this book challenges conceptions of patronage as a bygone phenomenon. Complementing a dwindling cast of aristocratic patrons were new ranks of music publishers, impresarios, state bureaucrats, opera directors, and others capitalizing on their savings, social connections, and artistic vision to bring new music into the world. In chapters on French discourse around patronage, aristocratic commissions, the stimulus provided by the interwar dance craze, music publishing, the Paris Opéra, state intervention in French musical life, and transatlantic musical exchanges, the book blends cultural history with primary source study and music analysis. It not only improves our understanding of French musical life and culture during the early twentieth century but also supplies us with essential insights into the ways modern music emerged at the intersection of music composition, aesthetic and national politics, and the creative labor of patrons.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: http://https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783276691/the-creative-labor-of-music-patronage-in-interwar-france/
Primary URL Description: Link to the book's page on the publisher's website
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781783276691
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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